Dec. 10, 2012
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Spend an evening with Mel Brooks on HBO. / HBO

by Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

by Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

It's time for the American Country Awards - not to be confused with last month's CMA Awards or American Music Awards, though it's easy to see why you might. Like the AMAs, this is a created-by-TV event where the awards are decided by fan vote, which means you can pretty much look at the sales charts to see who's going to win. Still, shows like this exist not for the prize but for the performances, which are scheduled to include numbers from Lady Antebellum, Luke Bryan and Rascal Flatts, among others. If we're lucky, maybe co-host Kristin Chenoweth will sing as well.

Mel Brooks Strikes BackHBO, 9 ET/PT

One of the great comic minds of our time, Mel Brooks, sits down for an hour-long look at a great career that stretches from Your Show of Shows and his 2000 Year Old Man routine with Carl Reiner, on through Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and the musical version of one of his greatest movies, The Producers. Anyone who thinks vulgarity can never be funny - and on many Mondays, CBS' lineup works hard to prove that's true - has never seen a Mel Brooks film, and is much the poorer for it.

Hawaii Five-0CBS, 10 ET/PT

Tom Arnold guests as an armed man who takes McGarrett and a little girl hostage. Granted, you should never judge an episode on a summary alone, as actors and shows can surprise us. But really, is there anything in that description that sounds enticing?